Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A late night run for two-buck Chuck finally got me to Trader Joe's new location off Sunset. Three parking garage floors down is the entry way to the store. I expected cheap grocery store goods, not a rehash of Rock n' Roll motifs. However, this store's novel location may have called for a new spin on things.

First, the elevator from the parking garage...

The walls of Trader Joe's

This is unusual for Trader Joe's, whose normal in-store decor themes ebb around the Islands. An oasis in the city if you will.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Today is a sad day for the antipathetic group Anonymous, who in 2008, chose to attack Scientology and its followers through an onslaught focused on their communications, exacting the shut down of their website and a flood of black faxes to their headquarters. Dmitriy Guzner, age 19, was charged with unauthorized impairment of a protected computer and faces 12 to 18 months. There's no word on how he was caught, but he pleaded guilty to the charge and is the first member of the Anonymous group to be prosecuted.

In 2008, Anonymous members organized multiple protests outside Scientology's offices and religious centers around the world; a series of foreboding and creepy YouTube videos were released by the group to make their case known. Counter attacks ensued, but the Scientology church denied that they were the source of retaliation. A movement I traced through the pages of Radar and documented. Members of Anonymous are most widely recognized for their use of the Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta, an effort meant to protect themselves from personal attacks by the Church.

Friday, May 1, 2009

I went home. Home is Boulder, Colorado. About four years ago I left this place for Miami, then Miami for Los Angeles, and homesickness has plagued me the entire time. The bond I've felt with home did not materialize this time around. I didn't feel completely satisfied touching the ground and I don't want to stay. I might not love Los Angeles, but I don't hate it either - something I've heard plenty of times from Angelenos. It's like a family dog, troublesome but lovable.

In trying to look for a once favorite quote of mine, which goes something like, I'm a foreigner in my homeland, I found this one "Homesickness is...absolutely nothing. Fifty percent of the people in the world are homesick all the time...You don't really long for another country. You long for something in yourself that you don't have, or haven't been able to find," said by John Cheever. This statement carries more weight than the former. When I come home, it's to find relics of my past, the familiar toys, memories and people. These things comfort me and remind me of who I was, because new places make me feel lost. The danger of the unknown.

Los Angeles is as much a home to me as much as I want it to be. An obvious point and late realization, but I was never a child of the world. Stepping into that unknown. As John Le Carre said "we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen," and, there is so much more to see.

WELCOME, FOLLOW ME

In the words of Bronwyn Jones "Los Angeles is a child star: beautiful, spoiled, percocious, naive. People love to hate L.A. The surface of the city glitters so brightly that it's sometimes hard to see the city's soul-or to discover if it has one. It's there, all right, though you won't understand it if all you have is a pocket-size book with a few celebrity names, some street addresses, and a handful of maps inside. You have to pound the pavement. Trust your instincts. Embrace the sordid and the silly, the high-brow and the lowbrow, the vast landscapes and the minute details. You'll learn that Los Angeles is a city worth finding." Indeed it is. There's a lot of scruff to sort through once you're here. Don't be naive, and don't trust too easy, it's a tough city that puts you through it's own hazing rituals. The darkness here is pretty dark, but L.A. has redeemable qualities. I'll show you where to look.

About Me

My business here is to provide a social documentary, an exercise in cohesive observation for those who view L.A. from far away and those who see the cracks up close. I love and hate L.A.; Amidst the bad, I want to offer the good, and single out people and places that make the city home. I share the opinion of Lynda Obst who said, "My perspective swells and shrinks in the daily drama. Often I lose it entirely. Writing is my tool for getting it back." Me too.